Do you know if your horse dislikes someone?

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ApolloStorm

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So in the light of recent threads- would you know if somebody riding/ handling got on your horses " nerves" and they didn't like the person?

I only ask because I'm not sure if my mare just plain hates my sharer or if it's something she's doing which makes her so moody and unco-operative!
She's angelic for me, but sharer has been bucked off, horse swing her arse away at the mounting block, barged on the ground. All things angelic mare wouldn't dare do with me- shared does have a much more " do what I say grrr naughty horse" attitude, where I just tend to be calm and repeat things until she gets them right then praise. The horse is 5 in May so still just a baby, just a thought I had whilst watching her ride.
 
Some horses and young ones particularly can get "upset" (agh, hate that anthropomorphic word for horses) by people rushing things around them so it could be that.

Or the sharer could have pushed the wrong buttons and got herself bucked off.

But generally no, I've never had any of my horses show signs that they "dislike" someone and I wouldn't tolerate that behaviour even if they did.
 
My old horse was usually disinterested in strangers but once had a new saddler out and the horse took one look at the poor man and put his ears flat back and teeth at the ready. Totally out of character and somewhat embarrassing. I assumed that the saddler had somehow reminded the horse of someone unpleasant he had known in his past.
 
My old mare dislikes one of my best mates riding her. She goes lovely for me, no messing, then friend who is 8 st wet thru and schools problem horses for a living gets on and horse goes giraffe, backwards and tail lashing. She's not a massive fan of her on the ground either. Totally bizarre! She loves my dad tho, turns gooey eyed tart on him 🙄
 
Oh yes very much so. My boy hates his previous loaner he really got stressed out around her and would not relax.
 
Mine dislikes everyone until they provide a reason for him to like them. Hes a funny little thing! Frankie loved pretty much everyone with the exception of one person. It was the groom at a livery yard who also did schooling. I asked him to ride Frankie for me and he tried to buck him off which was so, so out of character! I put it down to something else bothering him and got him to ride again, and that time he planted with a mule face on, then when made to go, tried to buck him off again. I didnt ask him to ride again and left shortly afterwards when it became apparent the standard of care wasnt what it should be.
 
My mare pretty much hates everyone except me, my daughter and the YO, she will tolerate our part sharer. I've never noticed my gelding take a dislike to anyone.
 
ApolloStorm said:
So in the light of recent threads- would you know if somebody riding/ handling got on your horses " nerves" and they didn't like the person?

I only ask because I'm not sure if my mare just plain hates my sharer or if it's something she's doing which makes her so moody and unco-operative!
She's angelic for me, but sharer has been bucked off, horse swing her arse away at the mounting block, barged on the ground. All things angelic mare wouldn't dare do with me- shared does have a much more " do what I say grrr naughty horse" attitude, where I just tend to be calm and repeat things until she gets them right then praise. The horse is 5 in May so still just a baby, just a thought I had whilst watching her ride.
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Yes I would as they pull faces and make biting/snapping action ears clamped down
 
My old mare, my first horse and an absolute gem (looked after me like a saint when I learned to ride again as an adult), hated a previous boyfriend. He would even try and ride her and it never went well. Should have listened to her sooner . . . .
 
Yes he tries to kill them. I had to put an end to one farrier doing his hooves because he was just dangerous with her and I wasn't about to let her get hurt. He would push her over, rear at her, go straight over the top of her too and try to trample her. Yet he is an angel for other farriers. Dunno what he took against her as the other horses like her. I have to get a farrier from an hour away now to do his hooves as everyone else in the area is fully booked.
 
Old cob doesn't really like our YO - but then few people do either! I need to be there for foot trimmer, vet, dentist, worming etc and to change rugs in the field. Old Cob generally knows when something is up and then YO cannot get anywhere near him.

My son's horse does not really like youngsters of any sort - children, foals etc. He has also taken a violent dislike to at least three professional riders. I think they have a 'I'm telling you EXACTLY what to do horse' attitude which he just cannot handle. A small amount of tact and coxing goes a long a way with him as he generally goes very sweetly.

Young Cob tend to like most people - he just assumes they will be nice to him - and generally they are!
 
My YOs homebred mare tolerates me, but definitely doesn't like me. She's a dominant character and needs a firm handler. I'm not keen on her because she's mareish, she knows this, but I feel we've reached an understanding now, but it's taken nearly 2 years of handling her to get to this point.
My horse on the other hand loves everyone.
 
They like everyone! The driving pony least likes whoever brings him in for work and doesn't feed him but it's more a look away than a swear or anything like that. The C loves everyone, unless he's being fed, then he hates everyone!
 
SpringArising said:
Some horses and young ones particularly can get "upset" (agh, hate that anthropomorphic word for horses)
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Our own emotions are only chemical reactions sloshing around in our brains and horses have the same chemicals. There's increasing evidence of emotions in animals, so perhaps it's not just anthropomorphic and they really are upset.

OP, I think we generally accept that horses like some horses more than others. I don't see why that shouldn't apply to humans as well.

But it's also easy to be fooled. I let a friend ride my horse and you would say he didn't like her. In reality, she makes a very pretty picture but is actually as stiff as a board in the saddle and it's that he doesn't like.
 
Absolutely, had someone come and try my boy, he has never behaved like he did that day before or after . He was obviously tense, shooting forward , but the most disturbing was that he shook his head the entire time she was on. It was very strange.
 
My horse dislikes a lot of people, or rather she just has a low tolerance for them as she is a very stereotypical moody mare. What she hates most of all are people who march confidently over and start stroking her face. I like to joke that in her world this is plain bad manners! However, she's quite soft on the inside so she gets to like most people so long as they are quiet and kind. Top of her list are me, my Mum, our YO (she's the food lady!) and the farrier. She loves male farriers! Ours was up on Monday and she kept whickering at him in a very come hither manner while he was trimming our other horse!
 
My horse is a loving little chap but he chased the saddler out of the box at his first saddle fitting as he took an instant dislike to the man and wouldn't let him anywhere near him. Having witnessed this I warned the physio to make friends before he started working on him in case it was a man thing. It's never happened with anyone since so I'm not sure what his issue was on that particular occasion.
 
My mare is very wary of people she doesn't like. One day I had two vets out at the same time (sometimes two come) and one of them she knows quite well as said vet had seen her three times for her course of jabs, plus she grazed her horses at the same place as mine so she was quite familiar with her. So naturally Ali was quite friendly to the vet she knew, and literally stepped back when the next vet approached her. She's the same when new people ride her, she can be a right turd with new people riding her.
 
100% yes!

my lad hates some one very much so,he is normally quiet and i even let my step son groom him and lead him around, one said he was tired up outside the stable, once he heard said person voice the ears went so flat back you would say he didnt have ears! said person came round and he went to bit them!
he isnt a bitter!
he is always very tense is said person is around (sharing arena) so i make a point so trying to avoid them

i dont think they have ever done any thing to my lad, he just really really doesn't like them!
 
My mare used to take a particular dislike to a fellow livery at my old yard as soon as she heard him on the yard she used to go to the back of the stable. She wouldn't go near the front until she couldn't hear him.

She was notorious in her younger days for bucking male riders off but was an totally angel for any females riding her.
 
My Tb mare dislikes me, well, disrespects me really, unless she's feeling poorly, then she is my obedient shadow. She lives with my friend as a companion to her horse, happily she likes my friend.

I am not sure if my boy likes me, I think I'm possibly too wishy washy as a rider for him both in my aids and general demeanor, but on the ground we get on very well, because I am confident. I've never seen him show signs of disliking anyone.
 
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